Daughter of Magic
by forgottensea
Summary: “I didn’t ask for this. Half of me doesn’t even want this! That’s the half of me that wants to die and forget all of this!”-Sarah Li, daughter of Sakura and Syaoran
1. The Beginning

**Chapter One**

**The Beginning**

Sarah stretched her arms when she woke up from her nape in her parent's room. Her dad looked lover at her and smiled.

"Had a nice nap?" he asked her.

"Hai," she answered, smiling up at the ceiling, which she had decorated when she was little with glow-in-the-dark stars.

Syaoran Li sat down next to his 13 year-old daughter and watched her roll over the bed and onto the floor.

"I'm okay!"

Syaoran laughed. "I sure hope so!"

"I need more sleep, though! Just one hours was not enough for me," Sarah said, getting up and looking at the clock.

"Don't we all? I have a long night tonight," Syaoran said.

"How long is your class tonight?" she asked, watching him get back to his desk and ruffle his already untidy hair.

"Two to four hours…possibly," he said. Syaoran taught both Japanese and Chinese at the university in London. "You go get some more sleep, honey. While you can."

Sarah nodded and left her parents room. Sarah Li was a Chinese-Japanese 13 year-old with dyed blonde hair and natural green eyes. At age 5, she had entered her first movie in Japan, hoping she could escape her magical roots and live something of a different life, but she couldn't. She magical training had continued, but so did the movies. At age 7, she had moved to England from Japan to try and learn and live in an English speaking world. Also, things seemed calmer in England.

At age 12, she won 2 Oscars (one for best supporting actress and one for best actress) for one Japanese speaking role and one English speaking role. After that, everyone was sure she could stand up to anything. If only Sarah had known things were going to change forever…

Sarah walked into her room and closed the door. Her room was different form other 13 year-old girls rooms. Her room had a family coat of arm's hanging on every wall. The Li family coat of arm's was the Clow magic circle with a diamond in the center of the wind symbol, a turquoise in the center of the water symbol, an emerald for the earth symbol and a ruby for the fire symbol. The Clow family shield of arms was the sun and the moon hanging each by a single wire. Underneath the sun were the elements Fire and Earth and underneath the moon were the elements Wind and Water.

Those two family shields were on her wall. Behind her closet, however, was something ever more amazing. Behind her closet was a room full of weapons. Sarah's _favorite_ weapons. Two swords, both with a turquoise in the holders, a black whip and a red whip and two daggers, one with a snake imprinted in the blade and one with a star imprinted in the blade. A bow made of wood with a pink string tied around it in honor of her mother, Sakura Kinomoto, the mistress of the Sakura Cards and the strongest magician after Clow Reed. All the arrows, all 30 of them, had a green ribbon tied around them in honor of her father, Syaoran Li, the husband of Sakura and the second strongest magician after Sakura and Clow.

When friends came over, Sarah removed the coat of arm's and placed extra pictures of her family or friends or a poster from the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings movies on her wall. She would also either put medal's or trophies up. She wanted to make her life seem completely normal to her friends…when in reality it wasn't.

There was only one person that could see her training that she did with her father and mother and her weapons and magic: Karen Daidouji, adopted daughter of Tomoyo, cousin of Sarah and closest friend to her. Sarah called her Wolf after her favorite animal. Wolf was not born into a magic family as Sarah had been, but she did know magic and could perform some. Her mother did have the chance to learn magic from Sakura and Li, but simply replied "No" to this offer. She was fine videotaping them.

Inside Sarah's closet were three Japanese outfits and three Chinese outfits. Two kimonos, two Chinese dresses, and two battle outfits. To her parents, having just one uniform wasn't enough, considering they were of two cultures and also Tomoyo would always create Sakura her costume for her when she went out to capture the Clow Cards. It only seemed fair that Sarah should have to wear something as well.

The two kimonos were red or dark blue. The red one had roses (with the thorns) on it all connected to one another. The dark blue one had the outline of a half moon on the back and the outline of stars on the bottom. The Chinese dresses were blue or green. The green one was long enough for her not to have to wear pants under it, just shorts. On the bottom was the outline of a butterfly. The blue one she did have to wear pants. The Japanese battle outfit was a long black dress with the sleeves hanging off her arms. There were straps on it to keep them on her, but they still hung off her arms loosely. The sides of her dress had slits in it so her legs could move.

"I never wear it because I feel like a slut in it!" she had told her dad a year ago. It still fit her very well.

The Chinese battle outfit was a blood red dress, with a short skirt at the end. A half moon was outline on the back. The sleeves were short and cut so her shoulders showed. There were three straps on each of her shoulders to keep each side together.

Sarah slipped into her red Japanese nightgown and slipped into bed. Deep inside, as she closed her eyes for the second time, she felt weak. She needed someone to help her sustain her powers. They were dwindling. She could feel it. Her blood wanted to be touched by a boy's blood…a power boy's blood.

A powerful boy who'd be willing to love someone so different.

* * *

Michael Haku cringed as his older sister, Care, bandaged up his arm. 

"Well…you gave Eriol three more cuts than usual if it makes you feel any better," she told him, giving him a cheery smile.

Michael sighed sadly as her watched her finish. "Thanks," he muttered.

"You put up an excellent fight, Michael. I'll give you that," came a voice.

Michael stood up as Eriol Hiiragizawa walked into the room. He stuck out his hand, still smiling. Michael sighed again and shook it.

"Take a rest, Michael. You deserve it. Fire-tail!" Eriol called into the hallway.

A white dog ran into the room and over to Michael, gently licking his fingertips. Michael smiled slightly at Eriol and left, the dog at his side.

"Shall I start packing, Eriol?" Care asked.

"Right away. I'll tell him soon enough," Eriol said, still smiling.

Michael ignored the girls glances at him, as usual, as he took his dog, who loved the company of all the people very much, on his walk. He could sense if they had magic or not and none of them did. England, sadly, was dwindling in its magic greatly. It used to have so much that it reeked of it and people could actually smell the magic at least two miles away. In his mind, he could hear their thoughts like, "He's so hot!" and "God, look at that body!"

He was all too used to it by now. He could hear Eriol thinking to him, You're not going to even bother looking at any of them or ever flash a smile?

Flash a smile? I forgot how to do that a _long_ time ago, Michael thought back.

Two years is not a long time.

Maybe not to you, but to me…it's a lifetime. Michael shut off his mind to Eriol after that.

Michael had been orphaned at the age of seven and brought up by an old friend of the family, Eriol Hiiragizawa. Michael was one of the last of the Haku clan, which meant that he and his sister were the last of the descendants of Clow Reeds apprentice, Eri Migufutsu.

He was 17 year-old Chinese-English Jap. Man with red hair (from his mother's side, whom which was a English Jap.) and dark gray eyes (from his father's side which held all the magic from Eri). His disposition was cold and he had almost a pure dislike of all humans, except for Eriol and his older sister, Care Haku.

A small yelp reached his ear and he looked down to see Fire-tail come limping over to him from the forest from where they had stopped to just rest for awhile before going back. He was licking his hurt paw. Immediately, Michael's cold heart disappeared and was replaced with a warm one. He got down next the dog and lifted up his paw.

"Winds of healing, come forth and grant this creature comfort and compassion," he whispered in Chinese.

Fire-tail's paw healed up and he gently licked his master's chin in thanks. Michael just laughed slightly and, taking his leash, started to walk back home. Underneath it all, he knew he was lonely. He wanted someone to walk the lonely paths that he walked and the lonely streets with and hold and protect…do something that would make his life feel more meaningful than just practicing his magic every single fucking day of his pathetic life!

Care watched her brother, sighing sadly. She knew his loneliness was there. She and Eriol saw it every day. It seemed that even if his head was hit with the sword during practice, he didn't care. He never did, just hoped the wound was deadly, but it never was. He may hate people, but it didn't mean he didn't want to be with someone.

"You all packed yet?" Eriol asked Care.

"Almost," she responded.

Eriol smiled that smile again. "I've been waiting for this moment for twenty-two years since I first met them." He walked over to the window. "Michael!"

"Yeah?" he answered.

"Pack your bags. It's time to meet and love, quiet literally, your powers."

* * *

"What do you mean?" Michael asked for the third time. 

"I can't tell you. I can tell you this, however, Haku. Eventually, you will love this challenge," Eriol said as he closed his suitcase all packed and ready to go.

"Can't you tell me anything else, though?"

"Yes, I can." Eriol turned to him and spoke, "Trust the first four people you meet our first day there. You don't have to like them, just trust them."

Michael stared at the floor for a second, then looked up at Eriol, half between surprise and half between anger and yelled out, "What!"

"Just do as I say and everything will be fine from here on out."

* * *

Sarah jumped out of bed the moment her alarm went off. 

"God, was that needed!" she yelled sarcastically as she hit it.

She got dressed in her school uniform and ran downstairs, pulling on her shoes.

"Sarry! Sarry! Sarry!" came her one year old brother, David.

"Hi David," Sarah said, gently kissing his forehead. He gave a little giggle of delight that his older sister acknowledged him and threw his spoon onto the floor.

"Hi honey," Sakura said, setting a bowl of cereal down for her. "Do you and Karen have plans today for after school?"

"Yeah, Karen's mom is taking us to the mall to get us our belated birthday presents," Sarah said, picking up David's spoon, though he just threw it again onto the floor for her to retrieve and pick back up for him.

"Don't be too late, understand?" Syaoran told her, sitting down next to her with his tea.

"I won't be."

* * *

Karen rested her hands on her friends head and rested her chin on it. Sarah simply smiled and continued to work on the homework she hadn't finished before first period started. 

"Tut, tut, Ms. Li, I'm surprised at you! Didn't do your homework!" she said in mock horror, sitting down next to her as she pulled out her own.

"I should be saying the same to you, Wolf!" Sarah said, laughing slightly.

Karen gave Sarah a noggie and continued to work. Sarah glared at her best friend. She hated it when she did that.

"You didn't do any of your homework, did you?" came another voice.

Sarah Voll, a pure British girl with black hair which was in the form of a fohawk, glasses and a crazed look half the time, was sitting down in front of them.

"I'm usually very good about it!" Sarah whined.

"Yeah…sure you are," Karen muttered.

"Oh yeah, Squeak. You're really onto of your work," Sarah V. added.

Sarah V., otherwise known as Rooster for her fohawk, and Wolf were a lot closer then Sarah V. and Sarah were. Sarah admitted it to herself that at points she felt left out…but she wasn't going to go off on a rant about it all. Why should she?

Sarah was known as the shy one. The one who was always calm and very quiet. It was rare for her to blow up…but at points she would. Very rarely, but she would at points.

"Squeak! Yo, Li! Wake up!" came Wolf's barking call to her.

"Huh? What?"

"We have to get to class. Does Ms. Squeak Li wish to ruin her perfect attendance? Come on!" Rooster said, pulling her along to first period from the library.

* * *

After school, when Karen and Sarah went to the mall, the first place they went to was the bookstore. Sarah had been hoping a new book she had read about would be out. Her hopes weren't high, but she could always wish. 

"Found it!" Karen called to Sarah, showing her the thing she had been needing for awhile. It was a new pack of tarot cards she had needed. Hers had been eaten by her room. Karen just said "the bedroom demons got to them before I could save them."

"Good for you, Wolf. Now…if I could just find what I'm looking for…"

While Karen bought the cards, Sarah continued to search for the book. She looked in the vampire section, but it wasn't there. Karen came back and helped her search.

"What the hell…Karen!"

Karen looked and took on the same face Sarah had: surprise, amazement and shock. There, right in front Sarah's face in the manga section of the bookstore, was the Sakura Book. The pink binding and detailing was exactly right. Sarah pulled it from the shelf.

"How'd it get here? It was in my parent's library last I looked!" Sarah whispered to Wolf.

"Let me see it. Maybe it's just a-"

"No, it's the real thing," Sarah whispered. She felt over the word 'Sakura' that was on the cover it. She looked around the room, then said quietly to Karen, "Put it in my backpack."

"What!"

"Put it in my backpack! I'm taking it back to where it belongs! At my house with its mistress!" she said.

"Isn't this called shoplifting?" Karen asked her as she unzipped Sarah's backpack.

"Do you see a price tag on it?" Sarah asked.

Karen looked, saw none and, shrugging, placed it in Sarah's backpack.

* * *

Sarah placed the Sakura book in front of her parents, both of them in shock. 

"You might want to watch your stuff a little more carefully, Mom," Sarah said.

"Where was it? It was looking all over for it!" Sakura yelled, grabbing the book and look at it, trying to make sure it wasn't hurt or damaged in anyway.

David woke up and started to cry. Syaoran ran over to him, picked him up out of his playpen and tried to calm him down.

"Where was it?" Sakura repeated, this time keeping her voice down.

"In the bookstore down at the mall," Sarah said, offering to take David and see if she could calm him down.

"Well…all I have to say is thank god you found it, Sarah!" Sakura said after Sarah had calmed David down and took him in her arms. "Go up and do your homework now, honey. Dinner will be ready soon."

* * *

"It's time for her, Sakura; she's three years older than both us of were when you had to go through it all. It's time," Syaoran said that night as he set David down in his crib. 

"I still don't think so, Syaoran. It took me forever to capture them and return them. Then I had to make them into my own…I just don't want her to go through it all like I had to!" Sakura whispered as they passed Sarah's door. Her light was still on.

"Give her the cards, though. She's ready. She's got Karen…and as I recall, someone's coming," Syaoran said. "She's also got you, the Mistress of the Cards, and me, the descendent of Clow Reed, the husband of the Mistress of the Cards and the one person who'll probably be the one to protect her from this new gaki coming in…well…me and I suppose Kero to protect her…as well as Karen as I think about it. Have a little courage in her, Sakura."

"I _do_ have courage in her, Syaoran…I just worry about it. Maybe she doesn't want to do it! Maybe…in fact, I could send them to Karen! She could probably handle it!" Sakura said, practically pleading with her husband to allow it.

"Karen could, you're right…but how would that make Sarah feel? She's the daughter of the Mistress of the Cards. Maybe she's expecting them to choose her. Besides, they already told us what they wanted: her to be the new mistress. Let the cards go," Syaoran told her.

Sakura was about to argue with him again, but stopped when he shook his head. She sighed and looked at the book. They were ready and they knew what was to come. They were expecting it, which was why the book was glowing. Yue's wings were whiter than ever on the back of the book. He knew what to do when she completed her quest. Kerberos' growl hit Sakura's ear.

"Must it really happen all again, Sakura? Why!" he growled.

"It was not your choosing. The cards wished for another mistress. Kero…please, just do as the cards wish and take good care of her while she's on this quest," Sakura whispered.

He growled again in reply then was silent. Sakura whispered the Chinese incantation over the book and it disappeared.

* * *

The sound of water was strong. Sarah walked closer to the sound and found herself standing at the entrance of a castle that was appearing right out of a waterfall. She waved her hand, whispering in Japanese, "Open your doors unto me, heiress to Clow." The doors opened slowly and she walked inside. The doors slammed shut behind her and a small firefly, or what seemed to be a small firefly, appeared in front of her. 

It flew ahead of her and she fallowed, knowing somehow that she should. The entrance to a grand library stood in front of her when the firefly stopped. On each side of the entrance were two marble dragons. Their mouths were open and a red substance was dripping from the open jaws of the creatures. Sarah took a step back. They were the same kind of dragons Karen had in her room, except for the, what seemed to be, blood dripping from their mouths. She had always been terrified of them when she was little and would go over to her house and she still was, but once again, she was not one to speak her mind.

The firefly flew over to the dragons and gently brushed each of them over the back of the neck. They blinked, closed their mouths, curled up on the floor and fell asleep. The firefly then touched the doors and they slowly opened, dust falling as they opened. The firefly beckoned her to fallow and she did. It flew over to a pillar and laid itself down on it. AS Sarah walked over to it, she saw it had turned into a book.

It was pink. On the cover of the book was a lion with great white feathered wings. Sarah turned it over and saw the same white wings surrounding a single star. She turned it back to the front and suddenly realized what she was looking at. A female voice hit her ear and she recognized it as her mothers. She spoke to her in Japanese.

"They were asking to be taken to you, my daughter. They were asking me to bring them to you. Asking for your power."

A hand gently took hers in it's and helped her open the clasp of it. Sarah thought it was her mother's hand, but she did not have such rough hands with scars all over them. Her mothers hand held her hand with a firm, but still gentle grip. This hand held hers with the most gentle grip she had ever felt. Her father's grip was tight, only to make sure his daughter knew he wanted to keep her in his grasp to keep her safe and her little brother's hand wasn't even all that big! Karen never held Sarah's hand only because she was not the kind of person who held hands with someone. This hand was bigger than hers, but still so gentle.

The person took her other hand in theirs and they opened the book together.

"Take the card," came a voice in her ear she did not recognize. A British male voice. His voice was extremely cold, but she could hear a bit of kindness in it.

His hands took her wrists in his and he moved her hands to the first card on top. The Windy card. Her fingertips gently ran over the woman in it and the others cards inside the book flew out of it. They flew in all directions. They soon all disappeared. Sarah took the empty book and held it against her.

The man or boy's hand gently touched her forehead and whispered in Chinese, "Let sleep come and dance with you. Let him touch your eyes and let him control. For 'morrow is in due time and also in dead sight." Sarah closed her eyes and the last thing she knew, the man (she could tell it was a man from the way his body towered over hers and how he had muscles in his arms) was picking her up and cradling her gently in his arms.

* * *

The dream world ended and the Dream flew into Sakura's hand. The Mistress of the Cards smiled at one of her favorite cards and gently kissed it. 

"Please be kind to her," she whispered and let it go. It flew out the window and into the sky.

Michael laid Sarah down on the bed and stared at her, his mind spinning. This girl was the daughter of Sakura Li, Mistress of the Cards! This weakling of a girl was her daughter! He saw nothing special about her, only felt it. She was in the line extremely powerful magic, but it seemed to be dwindling…much like his was.

How? How could one of the descendants of Clow Reed have her magic be dwindling? And how could anyone expect her to capture the card while it was happening?

"Please fallow us, Haku," came Syaoran Li's voice from the hallway.

Michael fallowed, turning off the light and closing the door behind him. He fallowed Syaoran into the living room where sat Sakura, Eriol and Care. Syaoran sat down next to Sakura and he beckoned Michael to sit down with them. He did, across from everyone else.

"So now you know why you were called here, Haku. To help her recapture the cards and help her earn the title she was born to have," Syaoran said.

"I do not have any choice in this?" Michael answered.

"No, not unless you wish to be disowned from the Haku family, your powers taken away from you forever and live practically as a nobody in this world," Eriol said.

Aren't I already just that? Michael thought.

"I heard that," Eriol said.

Michael cursed out loud. Fire-tail, which had come with him, barked disapprovingly and whined afterwards. Michael scratched him on the nose, calming him.

"You are bound to help her, whether you like it or not, Haku. Since you are of the Haku clan and being a descendent of Eri Migufutsu, it is your duty to help a Clow descendent," Sakura told him.

Michael was not going to go against Sakura's words. He had too much respect for her and what she spoke of was true. This was the first time the Haku clan really had distanced themselves from the Li clan. It was time to repair that rift.

* * *

A raven flew into Sarah's room and landed on her desk. Karen transformed back into her human form and walked over to Sarah's canopy bed. It wasn't long after Sarah had had that dream that Karen and it as well. Karen looked at the drapes and found them open, which surprised her, seeing that Sarah liked them closed. Karen took the empty Sakura book from Sarah's hands and the card and set it in the book. She shook Sarah. 

She didn't wake.

She shook Sarah again, this time a litter harder. She was kind of a heavy sleeper at points.

Still, she didn't wake.

Karen transformed into her raven from and scratched Sarah's arm and then transformed back into her human form. Though blood ran down her arm, she still did not wake. Karen turned into her wolf form and barked at her. When nothing happened, she pulled Sarah onto her back, ran at the door, went right thought it and ran downstairs to where everyone was. Sakura screamed at the sight of her lifeless daughter.

Karen laid her down on the floor and transformed back into her human form.

"Nothing I did woke her up!"

Eriol ran over to her side and lifted up her head. He checked her pulse and her breathing. "Releasing the cards took a lot out of her. Michael, get the vile I brought with us! It's in my bad! I knew something like this would happen."

Michael grabbed Eriol's bag and pulled out the small glass vile that was filled with a red liquid. He handed it to Eriol. He took a droplet of the red liquid and placed it on her bleeding arm where the scratch was. Karen could smell it. Blood and powerful blood at that.

Eriol took two more droplets of it and placed it on Sarah's bleeding scratch and he sighed when he saw her waking up. She let out a feeble squeak at the sight of Eriol sitting next to her. Sakura let out a sigh of relief as Syaoran picked Sarah up off the floor.

"What happened?" Sarah asked, her head throbbing with pain.

"I was trying to wake you up, but you wouldn't! I was afraid something bad was happening to you, so I got you downstairs. Eriol just got you back," Karen told her, still sitting on the floor.

"The book…why…" Sarah muttered, looking at her mother.

Sakura looked sadly at her daughter. "I'll explain tomorrow, Sarah. You need more rest."

Sarah was breathing deeply, trying to calm herself. She was her arm and looked at Karen, as if knowing. "What did you do?"

Karen just smiled slightly. "I tried to wake you up," she said truthfully.

Sarah shook her head slightly, and then caught sight of Michael. He was staring at her. Those eyes…a perfect green…a brilliant green…like her mothers. He hadn't seen Sarah's eyes until now. He felt weak just at the sight of them. He wanted to freeze time, walk over to her and get a closer look at that color in her eyes. God they were beautiful.

Sarah felt herself shaking in fear. She could tell he was four years old than her…and he had the same scars on his hands as she had seen in the dream. She saw his dagger and could just see him pulling it out and slashing her throat. She saw his muscles and could just see him hitting her with those powerful arms and hands. She got away from her father's grasp and ran.

"Sarah? What's wrong?" Karen asked, watching her go.

Half way up the stairs, Sarah fell down and fell down the stairs, but she got right back up and ran up against and out of sight. Karen heard the door slam shut. She looked at Michael and saw what it was that had scared her so much. She shook her head and said, "Pardon Sarah. She's a wimp."

She walked up the stairs and walked right though Sarah's door. Sarah was sitting in her bed, the Sakura Book in her hands.

"I don't understand. Why is this all happening?" she whispered and looked up at Karen, tears slowly trickling down her face. "How'd it all happen so fast?"

Karen sighed sadly and sat down next to her. Sarah fell into her, hoping to be comforted.

"I didn't ask for this, Karen. Half of me doesn't even want this! That's the half of me that wants to die and forget all of this!" she cried.

"Nobody asks for anything in this lifetime, Sarah. Both you and I know that. Just like your mother didn't want to be Mistress of the Cards or your father didn't ask to be a descendent of Clow. You will win, Sarah. You will become who you were meant to be and nothing will stand in your way."

Sarah looked up at Karen, her Wolf, and wanted to badly to hug her…when she remembered that she didn't like hugs.

"Now put on that stupid smile of yours and be that blonde happy Squeak all of us love," Karen whispered.

Sarah couldn't while she was still crying like this. To her…that was impossible at the present moment.

"Well, is this an awkward moment or what?" came a voice in Japanese from Sarah's desk.


	2. The Choices Made

**Chapter Two**

**The Choices Made**

A small yellow stuffed lion with wings and a white puff ball at the end of its tail hovered over Sarah's desk. Its wings did not move. It was just somewhat suspended in midair. For its eyes, two black dots were placed on it, it looked as though it barely had a nose and its mouth was just a line.

"That's weird," Karen said as she gave Sarah a tissue. She walked over to the stuffed animal and poked its belly. It jumped in surprise and tried to bit her finger. "Dude, what is this? What are you?"

"I'm the Guardian of the Sakura Cards, you lesbian!" it replied.

Sarah gave a loud cough that sounded like a mixture of a real cough and a laugh. Karen stared at the creature, her hands slowly turning into fists.

"What?" she asked it.

"You heard me! I'm the Guardian of the Sakura Cards, so bug off!" it told her.

"No…what did you call me?" Karen asked it though gritted teeth.

"A lesbian. Sure looks like it to me. The way you were holding Sarah kind of told that to me," it told her.

"Why, I should rip your bloody-"

"Kerberos!" came Sakura's voice. She ran to the stuffed animal and hugged it. "Oh my Kero! I've missed you so much!"

The stuffed animal, who Sarah guessed was Kero, looked like she couldn't be happier. He was with his mistress again. He looked like he couldn't be happier until Sakura started to hug him a little too tightly to her chest and he couldn't breathe.

"Air! I need air, Sakura!" he gasped.

"Oh! Sorry Kero! I was so happy that I didn't realize…"Sakura's voice wondered off.

"It's okay, I understand," Kero said, gently fixing his now slightly crooked wings.

"Kero?" Sarah asked. "Kerberos, the guardian of the Clow Cards?"

"Sakura Cards," he corrected her with a slight smile on his face. She looked so much like Sakura that he couldn't help but smile at it.

"Hold on…if you're Kero and my mothers wasn't just playing with me about you being this small…oh god, I'm screwed!" Karen muttered, hitting her head against the wall.

"So Sarah, haven't seen you since…well, I've never seen you before," Kero said, flying up to her and looked her over.

"How'd you-"

"Sakura…I mean, your mother, told me when she was pregnant with you she'd name you Sarah if you were a girl. Also, I could tell from your eyes you were her daughter. What did you do to your hair? Isn't it supposed to be brown?" Kero asked.

"I dyed it blonde," she told him.

"Aw…you probably looked good with brown hair," Kero whined.

"Ah, so you're finally out of the book, eh?"

Kero turned and glared at Syaoran, who was smiling in the doorway. "You haven't left Sakura yet, huh?" Little baka," he muttered.

"I'm not so little anymore, Kerberos. I can do this now since I'm more powerful then I was when you were sent back into the book." Syaoran lifted up his hand and threw it back. Kero went flying across the room and into Sarah's closet. It closed and locked itself.

"Hey! That's no fair! I don't have all of my powers!" came Kero's voice from inside.

Sarah ran over to her closet and opened it up. She picked Kero up and set him down on the table. "You okay?" she asked him.

"Of course I am! I'm the Guardian of the Sakura Cards! I am never hurt! Now…tell me, who's the lesbian?" he asked her.

Again, he went flying across the room and hit the wall, falling to the floor. Sarah ran over to him and picked him up again. Karen lowered her hand.

"_I-am-not-a-lesbian, you-stuffed-baka!"_ she yelled at it.

"That's Karen Daidouji," Sarah told him.

"Daidouji? Why does that name seem so familiar?" Kero asked himself, going into pondering.

"He's been in the book for a little over 13 years. It's understandable he'd forget. He does that a lot. Does the name Tomoyo Daidouji ring a bell?" Syaoran asked him.

Kero stared at him, then at Karen, who seemed ready to him again. "SHE'S TOMOYO'S DAUGHTER!" he yelled.

"Shh! Keep your voice down! David's trying to sleep next door!" Sakura told him.

"Adopted, thank you very much," Karen said, slugging him again.

* * *

Michael stared at the Guardian of the Sakura Cards who was sitting next to him as Sakura made tea. He couldn't believe it was really him. He had heard so many stories from Eriol about him…but he was supposed to have golden eyes and great wings! He supposed that because the cards were loose, he was in stuffed animal form.

Kero, however, did not seem to take any notice of this. He and Karen were glaring at each other from across the room. When someone got in their way, usually Eriol because he found it to be rather amusing, they'd move their heads so they were glaring at each other again.

Sarah looked across the table at Michael. He looked up from his tea and they caught each others eyes. Those green eyes of hers caught his in an instant and he really was about to freeze time to get a closer look at those eyes and see them for what they truly were, but they left a moment later in fear. Sarah saw his cold disposition in his eyes and feared it because she was not all that used to it.

"Was it all planned out? Me opening the book, I mean?" Sarah asked as her mother set down her lemon tea for her.

"Nobody really decides who will open it. The cards do that," Eriol told her. He happened to be her godfather, but they hadn't seen each other for over four-five years, so when they had that encounter in the living room it was out of total surprise for Sarah.

"If the cards were to choose you or David, we already had it all planned out how'd it happen. It wasn't until you were eleven that the cards decided you should be the next mistress. At that point, we saw what was to come. We knew Michael would come and we knew you would not take this all that well," Sakura said, giving Kero his tea.

"We just needed to figure out how to get you to open the book when you knew it by heart. First we tried the book shop, sending it there. We were hoping you'd open it to figure out fully if it was a fake or not. Obviously, that failed. Then we decided on the dream. You, however, added your own touch," Syaoran said, looking at Michael.

"I figured that if I hadn't helped her out, she never would have opened it," he answered simply after a sip of tea.

"I somewhat wished you hadn't," Sarah muttered.

The room fell silent. Care tried to stop Michael before he answered, but she was too late.

"You can't deny destiny! It's a thing that happens!" he shot back.

"To hell with destiny, then! You make your own destiny! You make the decisions, you make the choices! You learn from your mistakes and learn not to repeat them! That's destiny," Sarah shot back to him.

"You're basically under contract right now! You can't fight it! You were born into the Li clan, you were raised on magic! It's your own damn fucking fault if you decided to take up this practice of magic and not turn away!" he hissed, standing up and towering over her in his rage.

"And what if I decide, you know what? I don't want to do this? What if I decide, to hell with this and just don't do it?" Sarah said, her fists clenched and standing up as well to face him.

Silence came over the room again. Sarah looked around the room, nervously.

"What _will_ happen if I decide not to do this?" she asked her voice soft.

Kero spoke up. "Disaster…unimaginable chaos will fall upon this earth. Depending on the person, it could be nothing all that important at all. A little thing taken away from them means nothing. But, then again, it could be the worst thing above everything else."

"But I didn't want to do this! Do I not have any say in this…at all?" Sarah asked her parents.

They shook their heads, sadly. Sakura never wanted her daughter to have to go through any of this. She knew it'd be hard for her to handle. Michael was right, however. She just needed the staff to finalize the contract. Sarah turned to Eriol. He looked down into his tea, trying to ignore her sad eyes. She turned to Kero. He flew into the living room and beckoned for Sarah to fallow. She did.

"You need the staff. If you do not have it, you'll never get the cards," he told her, in a soft gently voice. He wanted to be kind. He sensed great sadness from her at that moment.

Sarah nodded wordlessly. She didn't want to do this, but what other choice did she have? She knew in her heart she was not ready for this, but she also could not turn it down. Besides, she would probably have to do it later on in life if she didn't do it now. She also was not going to let down her parents. She wanted to prove to herself as well that she was as strong as anyone else in the Li clan and in the Haku clan.

As Kero started the incantation, she started to cry. One, this wasn't how she wanted to live the rest of her life: capturing and controlling the Sakura cards. And two, she was in pain. She felt weak and it _did not_ feel good. She felt like she was half between barfing and fainting.

In Japanese, Kero spoke, "Key of the Sakura Cards, a young woman asks to create a contract with you." A small pink key with a star enclosed in a circle appeared in front of Sarah. "As the moon, sun and stars as my witness, I give her the contract and the role of Card Captor." Kero looked at the key. "Release your true form."

The key started to spin and soon transformed into a staff. On each side of the circle where the star was were tiny little wings.

"Take the staff, Sarah," her father told her.

Sarah tried to, but the moment she reached out for it, she screamed out in pain. Kero seemed to want to help her, but if he broke his concentration for just one moment, the spell would brake. Sarah fell to her knees, crying in pain from her weakening magic. David started to cry upstairs for being woken up so rudely.

Karen and Syaoran were about to run forward, for Sakura couldn't since she was getting David and just now floating down through the ceiling with him in her arm's. Michael got up from his seat in a flash and beat both Karen and Syaoran. He grabbed a hold of Sarah and helped her stand up. He may not have liked her that much or think her worthy of being the next mistress of the cards, but he did trust her and that trust was what made him help her.

"Take the staff. Its powers will help you," he whispered to her. "Are you willing?" He grasped her wrists. He felt her nod weakly. He lifted up her arm and she reached out and grabbed it by herself. Both of them felt a pulse run through her body. She started to fall over again, but he supported her in his arms.

Sarah felt like she could keel over at any given moment. He legs…she couldn't feel them at all. Her body…was it even there? She couldn't feel it either. Her eyes closed and she fell back into Michael, the staff still in her hands.

Kero flew over to her and felt her pulse. "The sudden boost of power must have surprised her weak body."

"I'll take her up to her room," Michael said.

"No, I can do it," Karen said. A small growl rose in her throat. I'm not letting a complete stranger hold onto her."

"Oh yeah," said Kero. "Hand her over to the lesbian."

Karen hit him over the head, hard. Fire-tail walked over to Michael's side, sniffing Sarah's limp hand. He gently licked it and looked up at her, hoping it would have woken her up. He whined slightly at seeing that she did not.

"Fire-tail won't let him do anything to her, Karen, so don't worry. She'll be fine," Eriol said calmly, trusting Fire-tail fully.

"How am I supposed to trust your word for sure or…even trust _that thing_? Trust a _common dog_?" Karen asked.

"I am _not_ a common dog and do not _dare_ refer to me as one unless you wish to have your throat ripped out and torn to pieces!" came a deep, menacing growl-like Japanese voice.

Karen and Kero stared at the dog, which seemed to getting ready to jump on Karen and do exactly what he had just said. Sakura and Syaoran looked at Eriol, smiling. They knew Fire-tail was his doing. Care just rolled her eyes and continued to sip her tea. Fire-tail boasted a lot, but wasn't much of a doer of sorts.

"Fire-tail is Michael's guardian. Believe me, if anything happens, he'll take care of it," Eriol said.

"He wouldn't let anything happen to Sarah, nor to me for that matter," Michael said and with that, started up the stairs. Fire-tail fallowed him, mumbling things like, "Common dog…not even all that powerful, that girl…really bad introduction if you ask me."

* * *

Michael laid her down on the bed and set the staff on the floor next to her.

"You're not terribly fond of her, are you, Michael?" Fire-tail asked him. Fire-tail did not know all that much English, so he preferred to speak in Japanese and for everyone else around him to speak in Japanese when they were talking to him.

"Why should I be? She's not special or important to me. In my opinion, she's a weakling," Michael said.

"But so were you when you first started your training. Give her time," Fire-tail replied, sniffing around her room.

"If I give her time, when I feel she's ready, she'll be near dead. Her power is failing her, Fire. How is she supposed to survive anything with her powers failing like this?"

Sarah heard their voices and felt herself start to cry again. She felt fingers on her cheek and wanted so badly to disappear right then and there…but if she even tried, she wouldn't be able to: she was weak. Also…the fingertips were gentle towards her. They still scared her, but they were gentle.

"She's crying," Michael whispered. He gently wiped them away. "Nightmare I suppose."

Her cheek was soft beneath his fingers.

* * *

Sarah and Karen's shopping was not done as to the fact that Sarah had wanted to get home A.S.A.P. when she had found the book yesterday so they came back the next day. As they walked around, both tried to ignore the fact that Tomoyo was video taping them, as usual.

Tomoyo half hoped that Sarah and Karen would get together. They looked so cute when they were walking side by side! It was only a hope, though. It wasn't high. She knew Sarah was straight and Karen wanted nothing to do with love. She could dream though, right?

"Mom, do you _have_ to tape us?" Karen asked as they walked into a shoe store. Karen was finally going to be able to buy those boots she had been wanting since forever.

"Of course! You two look so cute together!" Tomoyo said with a small giggle in her voice.

Sarah went red. A lot of newspapers in England, The States, Japan and China all had rumors that she was a lesbian because she had been seen "making out" with another female celebrity. Little did they know was that it was fore scene in a movie that was coming out in two weeks. Sarah was bi in that movie, so she had to make out with that woman. She really was not proud of it.

With Karen, sure, there were rumors floating around that they were a lesbian couple, but when Sarah had had a boyfriend a few years ago, the rumors started to die down.

"We may look cute together, Tomoyo, but if we were to start dating anytime soon, she'd kill me," Sarah said, pointing to Karen.

Karen just grinned and continued to search for those boots. Sarah started to finger the necklace she had around her neck. In fact, she was not only wearing the Sakura Key, but another key that were made specifically to open two things in her house: the room behind her closet and the safe she had hidden underneath a loose floorboard in her closet.

Inside the safe were some items that meant much more to her than her magic: a picture of Sarah holding David in her arm's when he was first born, a dagger with crystals in the holder that she used when depression kicked in that had been given to her by her grandmother, Syaoran's mother, before she died. She only used it for that because she was afraid that if she used it too much, it'd brake. It was an heirloom to the Li clan. There was also a ring her parents had given to her when she was five which they had said "holds the most precious feeling inside it for you." They had also said that that feeling won't be released until the right time had come. Sarah just liked the turquoise that was in it. The thing, though, that she hadn't looked at for over one or two years and had completely forgot about was a small velvet black box. Inside the box was a necklace with a dagger hanging from it. The small dagger had a red diamond in the holder and the Egyptian sign for 'immortal' and 'love' in the small blade.

The necklace had been given to her by her boyfriend about two years ago (he was 15 at the time he had given it to her) who had died when he was skate boarding and was hit by a car. He spent half a week in the hospital and died from internal bleeding. He had given it to her just two days before the accident. A note had been found and given to her a few days after his death that was a suicide note that was dated five days before it happened. In it, he left the necklace to her saying, "Our ages may have been off from each other's, but that doesn't mean this feeling I have for you is nothing. I will love you for the rest of my life and in death. This is to remind you that in life and in death, I'll protect you and love you until the immortal fates decide to cut your string. When that happens, I'll be holding you when you wake up and I'll still love you."

Every time Sarah looked at the necklace, she would start to cry and hide it from her sight. That wound in her heart had never fully healed and she figured it never would. The note was still there, written in faded pen and truthful feelings. Sarah remembered that he had a scar on his middle finger on the hand he wrote with from when he had broken it. He had said that he broke it because he flipped too many people off in one day.

Sarah hadn't looked at the safe in three months.

* * *

"I found them…and there in my size!"

Sarah laughed as Karen happily pulled them on.

"What do you think, Squeak?" Karen asked her friend.

"Awesome! Kick Ass! Need I say more?" Sarah said, complementing her cousin.

"How much are they, honey?" Tomoyo asked, still taping.

Karen looked at the price and let out a sigh of frustration. "They're 39 pounds! I don't believe this!"

Sarah looked at the box that they were in and smiled. "I believe there's a 'sale' sign, Karen," Sarah pointed to it on the box. "They're 30 off today."

Karen looked at Sarah. "I love you, Squeak."

"Ditto."

* * *

Sarah and Karen continued around the mall when Kero, who had been sleeping peacefully in Sarah bag the entire time, popped out.

"What's up?" Sarah asked him.

"A Sakura Card…I can feel it!" Kero muttered.

"We can't be seen with him around here like this. People will start to wonder!" Tomoyo's voice whispered in Sarah's ear. Sarah nodded and all three of them ran out of the mall. Kero flew out of her bag.

"Do you have your key with you, Sarah?" he asked her.

Sarah nodded.

"Repeat this incantation. By the power of the stars! Staff of power, made by Clow, reveal to me your true form now!"

Sarah pulled out the key and started speaking in Japanese, "By the power of the stars! Staff of power, made by Clow, reveal to me your true form now! Release the staff!"

It appeared and she grabbed it.

"Oh this is dija vie all over again!" Tomoyo sighed, still taping.

"Must you tape her, Mom?" Karen groaned, looking at her.

"Don't you want to watch Card Captor Hime, daughter of Sakura and Syaoran Li all over again?" she asked her daughter.

Karen shook her head. "You're insane, Mom. And don't call her Hime. She doesn't like that name anymore," she said quietly, ashamed that her friend hated such a beautiful name.

A huge gust of wind blew before them and the gentle sound of a bird chirp reached Sarah's ear.

"What's going on!" Karen yelled, covering her eyes from the dirt blowing around.

"It's Fly!" Kero yelled.

"Fly?"

"The card Fly, with the power of flight. Where is it?" Kero asked, looking around.

It didn't take long for any of them to notice the huge white bird above them. A chirp came again and Sarah turned to Karen.

"I need night, Karen! I can't let people see this going on!" she told her.

"One midnight black night coming up, Squeak," Karen said and lifted her hand. She whispered in Japanese, "Goddess of the night, hear my plea, allow me your staff to turn this sunlit day into a moonlight night!"

The sky slowly turned black and Sarah could sense the people that were inside the mall falling asleep somehow. Karen had the habit of accidentally bringing sleep with her when she brought forth night. Karen's hand glowed a bright yellow.

"Wolf, transform!"

Karen transformed into a giant white wolf and ran over to Sarah.

"Can you jump onto the birds back?" Sarah asked her friend.

Karen nodded and allowed Sarah to get on her back. She ran and leaped. Her paws glowed much like her hands had before. Karen missed the giant white birds back, but landed on the roof of the mall.

"Be careful up there, you two!" Tomoyo called up to them.

"One more jump should do it, Karen! Please!" Sarah urged her.

Karen let out a low growl in reply, ran and jumped onto the huge birds back.

"How do I release a card, Kero?" Sarah yelled to him getting off Karen's back and she transformed back into a human.

"Just yell out the first thing that comes to your mind…and hurry!" he yelled as the Fly's wings almost hit him as he flew close to her.

Sarah started to panic. She looked at Karen who was down on one knee, grasping the Fly's feathers so she would not fall off.

"Do it, Sarah! You have to do it!"

Sarah nodded. In Japanese, she spoke, "Sakura Cards hear my plea! Come to my aid and assist me! Windy! Bind and trap Fly! Release your power!"

The wings on each side of the circle on top of the wand became big and the star started to spin and the Windy Card was released. She wrapped her winds around Fly's neck and wings, binding it. Karen transformed back into her wolf form, got Sarah to climb on and they landed on the ground safely. Fly landed on the ground, still bound with a loud _crash_!

Sarah got off Karen's back and ran to where the card was. "Return to the form you were destined to be in, Sakura Card!" she yelled in Japanese.

The card appeared and Fly went into it. The staff went back into a key and Karen watched Sarah fall weak to the ground.

"Sarah!" She ran over to her and helped her up.

"I'm so tired," Sarah muttered and buried her eyes in Karen's neck.

Karen waved her glowing hand up to the sky and the moonlit night turned back to sunlit day.

"Michael said that her power is weakening. Maybe she used too much of it," Karen said looking down sympathetically at her cousin who seemed to be sleeping with her head rested against Karen's neck. She picked her up. It was amazing how much stronger Karen was compared to Sarah. Sarah weighed about 120, but Karen still able to carry her.

"Well, if this isn't a sure sign that you're her lesbian lover, I don't know what is! You can carry her!" Kero yelled, glaring at her.

Karen looked at Kero and growled menacingly at him. Tomoyo grabbed Kero and snuggled him against her cheek.

"It's good to see you again, Kero," she whispered to him as she put her camera away and pulled out the keys to her car.

"Same to you, Tomoyo. Why'd you adopt that girl over there?" he asked her, sitting on her shoulder as they walked towards the car.

"Who, Karen? When I saw her in that group home, I had brought Sarah with me. I was watching while Sakura and Syaoran were off at work. Karen was two years and Sarah was still a year old. Karen just ran up to Sarah and asked her to play with her. Sarah was so shy that I pushed her slightly to play with her. Eventually, Sarah agreed and Karen just grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the train sets. I spent about an hours or two there and saw how she and Karen got along and I knew. I wanted her. She seemed perfect."

"Mom! Open the doors! Please!" Karen called. "I can't hold her forever you know!"

"I know, I know."

Kero watched as Tomoyo opened the door and Karen placed Sarah in the car and placed the bag with her stuffed animal she had brought, a white tiger, neck to her. He closed his eyes and felt it. Karen was powerful.

"Not as power as Sarah or that Haku baka, but it's there. Clow…" Kero smiled. "You planed all of this, didn't you? Sarah and Karen meeting, Haku and Sarah's meeting. Why, then, do I hate him and Karen so much when they're both a majority of Sun magic?"

"Get in here, stuffed animal! Sarah and her parents would kill me if I didn't bring you back!" Karen yelled out the window.

Kero flew into the open window and flew over to Sarah's sleeping body. He snuggled up against her neck and rested, still thinking.

"Why do I hate them so much if they're under the same power as me?" he thought.


	3. The Sun's Mysteries

I've been meaning to do this for awhile. Disclaimer: I do not own the oh-so-wonderful Card Captor Sakura series. They were created by the very talented Clamp.I bowdown respectfully to them. I only own the new characters. Sorry it took so long to finish. Really busy with finals and all. Summertime is here, though, so I will try to update more often. Really depends on how fast the story ideas come to me.

Thanks to the following reviewers for their feedback thus far: **titanfan, mi is elazarah, animeflower,** and **Lyra Sakura** Sorry if I mispelled any of your names. I didn't really care if the reviews were bad or good, I read them and understood what needed to be explained and/or changed for future fanfics. Enjoy!

**Chapter Three**

**The Sun's Mysteries**

At points, Karen had to admit that she felt like a nurse to Sarah. Even when they were little, Karen had to take care of her ever since she could remember. Sarah was a klutz, a ditz, and a blonde in the form of the worst triple threat known to mankind. Karen was now making some hot lemon tea with ginger snaps for her, made by Sakura.

"Ginger snaps always make Sarah feel better when she's sick or upset. This should help her," Sakura told Karen, giving her a tray to take up to Sarah.

"Homemade ginger snaps? Very nice!" Karen commented.

"Sarah loves them. Add a hint of lemon to them at the very end before serving," Sakura said as she squeezed a bit of lemon onto the cookies, "And that is a little message she always gets. 'Get better because there are people here who want to see you smile.' Also, she likes the taste. It's always been her favorite flavor."

"Special secret?" Karen asked.

"Only when I make them for her. If you use this secret, however, for your own cooking, I will find out!" Sakura said playfully. She pointed to the open magic book that was laying on the kitchen counter. "I see all through that. Believe me, I will know what you did and you will play." She smiled as she set the cookies on the tray for Karen.

* * *

Karen helped Sarah sit up and gave her the tea which she had placed a single ice cube in. And, even though they were practically mortal enemies from here on out, Karen gave Kero his tea as well, though it was without an ice cube. 

"Sakura wouldn't let me put the rat poison in it as I wanted to, so consider yourself lucky, stuffed baka," Karen told him.

"Those are homemade, right?" Sarah asked, pointing to the ginger snaps.

Karen nodded and handed them to her. Sarah took a bite from them and savored the taste.

"Yeah, these are Moms," Sarah muttered.

Karen looked her friend/cousin over. Her skin was paler than usual and that usual sparkle in her eyes was slowly disappearing from her view. She felt Sarah's forehead as she ate the cookie and shook her head.

"Your forehead is warmer than usual. What the hell is wrong with you?" she asked.

"Dad said my magic is dwindling. I don't know why, though," Sarah answered truthfully.

Kero looked up from his boiling hot tea, his tongue hanging out. He had burned it. "It's not yer faul, Sarah. Ye just need mer mabick and a lil mer training," he said, his tongue moving limply as he spoke.

Karen, with a well trained sad puppy face from Sarah, sighed and placed an ice cube in Kero's tea. "And how, exactly, is she going to get that extra magic training? When she opened the book, she became weak. When she captured the Fly card, she became weak. I suppose that if she captures anymore cards, her magic will dwindle down to nothing eventually, right?" Karen asked him.

Sarah sat up, causing Karen to jump in surprise. "You know where the safe is, Karen. Please…can you get it out?" she asked her.

"Y-yeah, I think so," Karen replied.

She went over to the closest and opened it up. She moved aside a box that was labeled "Old baby things" and found the floor board which was missing a corner of it. She lifted it up and pulled out the dusty safe.

"You haven't looked at it for awhile, have you?" Karen asked as she wiped the dust away from it and set it next to Sarah. She knew Sarah did want some sort of privacy so she let her open it up and search through it.

"Keep that out of my sight, Karen," Sarah said, handing the small velvet black box to her friend.

Karen stared down at the small box in her hands. She loved looking at the necklace, it was so beautiful, but she would never do that without Sarah's permission. Last time she had, Sarah had started to cry. About a month or two after that had happened, it seemed Sarah trusted her to know the right thing to do. If you ever made Sarah cry, you'd feel like crap for doing it.

"What are you looking for?" Kero asked, his tongue now back inside his mouth. The tea had cooled enough for him to drink it.

"This," Sarah said as she pulled out a small shined down stone with the Japanese kanji (sign/symbol) for 'Moon' imprinted in it in black on the front of it. The stone was dark gray with black markings on it all around, making it seem speckled. The stone was easily the size of Sarah's palm.

"I've never seen that before," Karen said, taking it from Sarah and looking it over.

"Mom gave it to me when I turned ten. She said I would need it soon. It'll give me a boost of magic from the moon," Sarah said, taking it back from Karen.

"But, Sarah…you're half under the power of the sun and half under the power of the moon, right? That stone won't do you much help if it's just for half of your power," said Kero as he looked it over.

"Yeah, but this is just one of things I'm looking for," Sarah said and set the stone aside. She pulled a picture out and laughed. "Look at us, Karen! I don't remember how old we were in this picture, but god, we were immature!"

Karen took the picture and looked at it and smiled. "I remember this. We were seven and I had forced you into your Chinese battle outfit. You hated it, but to make you feel better I wore my battle outfit as well. Mom took this picture!"

Karen's only battle outfit was Japanese. It was black with a silver wolf on the back with a green emerald for it's eye. On the front of the outfit was the Japanese kanji for 'fight'. Both outfits were way too big for them and the bottom of each lay on the floor collected in heaps.

Sarah shook her head and continued to search. Finally, she found it. It was a bracelet with a ring attached to it with a chain. The bracelet had the outline of a sun on it with the Japanese kanji for 'sun' inside the circle. Clouds were coming off the outline of the sun. The ring was inscribed with the Japanese and Chinese kanji for 'sun' all over the inside of it. On the outside of the ring were black diamonds inside the gold circling all the way around it.

"This should give me a boost in my power of the sun," Sarah told them as she put it on.

"But you can't wear the stone," Kero said.

Sarah laughed. "Man, I'd look stupid if I wore that stone around my neck as a necklace! No, I'll just keep it in my pocket."

"Lord knows you'll probably lose it then. It'll fall right out when you're not looking," Karen said, grabbing on the ginger snaps.

"No, that only happens to you, Karen. Not me," Sarah said.

* * *

Two days later, Sarah and Karen were back at school. Rooster sat, asleep, at the table at lunch, her head propped up on her hand. Karen snapped her fingers in front of her face, and then clapped her hands to make her wake up. 

Rooster opened her eyes and glared at Wolf. "Really needed?" she asked, sitting up straight as Sarah set down the personal sized bag of pretzels and the piece of apple pie she had asked for. She scooted it over to Rooster and handed her a fork. She had run out of money again.

"Yes, I believe so," Wolf answered as she opened the bottle of Pepsi she had bought.

"Oh…I like that bracelet, Squeak! Where'd you get it?" Rooster asked, looking at the bracelet on her right wrist.

"My mom gave it to me on my eleventh birthday. I found it when I was cleaning out my closet," she said as she dipped her chicken fingers she had bought in the lunch line in BBQ sauce. "I've got no clue where she bought it."

"It's really cool. Does the sign on it stand for something?" Rooster asked, looking at it carefully.

"Japanese for sun," Sarah said.

"The ring is a nice touch, I must say," Wolf said after a quick glance up from her lunch bag.

Sarah smiled and continued to eat. Karen pulled out her chop sticks and started to eat her sushi she had brought with her. Rooster continued to eat her pretzels.

"This is the weirdest group of people ever!" Squeak laughed.

"Yeah, it is. Wolf is eating sushi with her chop sticks, Cheetos and Pepsi, you have chicken fingers, French fries, cookies, hot lemon tea and a small bag of popcorn shrimp and I have pretzels and a piece of apple pie. Yeah, this is weird," Rooster said.

"At least it's not French Toast, French Fries, French silk pie, apple cinnamon tea and a few pieces of garlic bread," Wolf said, an eyebrow raised in Squeak's direction.

Rooster let the list of food wash over, then turned to Sarah and said, "Squeak? Is something wrong?"

Squeak glared at Wolf, who had just said what she had eaten yesterday for lunch. Wolf just smiled and continued to eat.

"Cravings I've been having for some time," Sarah responded, then suddenly realized what she had just said and slammed her head down on the table. Cravings usually meant baby cravings.

"Oh dear, who's the father? Tom Felton? No, Rupert Grint! You always did go for the guys with red hair. Or are you going for the older guys like Orlando Bloom? Or is he an American? Aaron Carter perhaps?" Rooster said.

Sarah felt her cheeks flare up into a deep red and heard Wolf muffle a snort of laughter. "No! I'm not having a baby, Rooster!" she said quietly because there were some people at the school who'd just love to call up a tabloid and tell them she was expecting. "It's just lately…I've been having cravings. Also…I'm still a virgin and I haven't had a boyfriend for two years! It means nothing. I've…just been really hungry lately."

"Hungry for some really weird combos," Wolf said in an undertone as she grabbed one of the popcorn shrimps with her chopsticks. She earned herself an evil little glared from Squeak for that comment. She just smiled at her little pet mouse, however, and continued to eat.

* * *

In gym, they were doing swimming. Sarah jumped into the pool without hesitation and, only after about a minute or so, she let out a shriek that echoed off the walls saying, "It's freezing in here!" 

"I suppose then that the weather has something to do with the pool being so cold, right? I mean, it _is_ snowing outside right now," Rooster said.

"It'll warm up eventually," Sarah said, trying to persuade both Rooster and Wolf that it would be fine soon. She was also trying to persuade herself.

"You really are a Pisces, aren't you, Squeak?" Wolf said, not removing her towel from around her waist.

Sarah just smiled. "I thought Wolves liked water!" she teased.

"They do, but this Wolf ain't getting in until you give her a good reason to!" she said stubbornly.

"What if I begged, pleaded, got down on my knees or told you I'm lonely without my Wolf?" Squeak said, swimming up to where Wolf stood.

Wolf thought for a second. "Okay, I'll give you that."

Sarah just smiled. "At least Wolves like water. Roosters, however, hate it."

"No, this Rooster likes water. It just takes a bit of time for her to get used to the water," she said and jumped into the shallow end of the pool. To add on to the joke, she pretended to start to sink to the bottom of the floor. "We just have a hard time staying afloat. That's all."

Sarah shook her head. Splashes came from all over the pool as the girls got in. It was a free day that day in gym, so girls could participate if they wanted to. Half of the class didn't get in…only because they didn't want to get their hair wet or "forgot their swimming suits." Karen was last to get in because she was being lazy.

"And here comes the proud, strong Wolf!" Sarah said, laughing slightly.

Karen ran off the diving board and dived in. Sarah started to play with her bracelet, but then realized she had left it behind in the locker room. She didn't want to lose it in the pool.

"Retrieve, Wolf!" Sarah called, throwing one of those water sticks to the other end of the pool.

Wolf went after it within seconds of it hitting the water. Rooster laughed.

"Dude, she's fast," she said.

"I'm faster. Even Karen says that I was meant to be a fish instead of a human because of that fact that I can swim so fast," Sarah said, watching Karen bring the stick back to them.

"Let's see how good you've gotten with your swimming, Miss Squeak," Wolf said. "Fetch!" She threw it.

As Sarah dove underwater to find it, she felt something around her ankle. She turned and looked. A whorl-pool had caught her ankle. She tried to swim out of it, but it was too strong. She tried to pull it apart. It seemed as though she could grasp it…but it tied itself around her chest, pinning her arm's to sides so she could barely move.

"Karen!" she screamed, but all that escaped her mouth was the air that she had been holding inside in the form of bubbles.

She struggled, but couldn't escape it. She could hear screams, but they were getting dim. Sarah's eyes closed and she sank to the floor of the pool. The screams soon died down as she blacked out.

Sarah opened her eyes and coughed up the water.

"Are you alright, Miss Li?" the gym teacher, Ms. Banes, asked her, getting patting her back.

"Yeah…I'm alright now," Sarah muttered, wiping her eyes of water with shaking hands.

Karen and Sarah V., who were sitting next to her, were sighing in relief as were some of the other girls in the gym class. Other girls who hated her because she seemed stuck up and snotty, though she really wasn't, and weird just shrugged it off and continued to talk.

* * *

"Karen, what happened exactly?" Sarah asked her, combing out her wet hair after class and after she had taken a shower and gotten dressed. 

"I don't know…but when I broke the whorl-pool thing…I mean, I could actually grab a hold of it, Sarah! Do you think…" she got close to Sarah's ear and whispered, "Do you think it's a Sakura card?"

"We can ask Kero when we get to my house. Dad's picking us up. Do you have my bracelet?" Sarah asked.

"Yeah, right here," Karen said, handing it to her.

Sarah had trusted Karen with it because she didn't trust herself with it. She knew she would probably be bound to lose it in all the junk she had. Karen shook her head, spraying water all over the place.

"Quit it, Wolf!" Sarah laughed, shielding herself from the water.

One of the girls who didn't like Sarah all that much took the bracelet, which Sarah hadn't put on yet, from her hand and looked at it.

"Hey!" Sarah yelled, seeing the girl with it.

"And what's this? A piece of cheap jewelry?" she asked Sarah.

"It's not cheap jewelry!" Sarah yelled.

"Sure looks like it to me!" came another girls' voice. The girl who had taken it from Sarah threw it to her and she grabbed it. She put it on. "Oh, this fits me perfectly! I think I'll keep it."

"Give it back!" Sarah tried to grab it, but the girl who had put it on threw it to another who pretending to almost miss catching it. "You don't know what you're doing!"

"Of course we do! We're admiring your beautiful bracelet and ring, Sarah," the girl who had almost "dropped" it said.

She threw it back to the other girl who originally had it when suddenly everything froze. Sarah and Karen turned to see Michael standing there, lowering his hand. Sarah looked down, realized she wasn't wearing a shirt, just her bra, yelped in surprise and grabbed it, covering herself up.

"I thought I sensed something going on," Michael said, watching Sarah pulled on her shirt. Karen noticed a hint of interest in his eyes and felt herself clench her fists. If he thought he could get under Sarah's bra…he had another thing coming.

Michael saw Sarah looking up above her, sigh in relief, stand on top of a bench and try to grab the bracelet and ring that were still up in the air.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Trying to get my bracelet and ring back! What does it look like?" she asked him.

Michael raised an eyebrow, lifted up his hand and grabbed it. He was still standing on solid ground. Karen couldn't help but smile. Even if Sarah stood on the bench, he was still much taller than her. It was so funny to watch her struggle to get something that was higher above her, then watch someone just grab it with no problem.

Michael looked at it. "A boost of the power of sun?" he asked her.

Sarah jumped off the bench and took it from him. "I need it. It could help me stop becoming unconscious every damn time I face a card," she said and put it on.

"Speaking of cards, Michael, is there a card in the Sakura book with the power of water?" Karen asked him.

Michael looked at both of them, confused. "You don't know the name of any of the cards?" he asked them.

Both of them shook their heads. "Mom wanted me to find everything out for myself," Sarah told him.

Michael thought for a second, then answered. "The Watery Card is the only card I can think of at the moment. Why?"

"We were just in swimming and something like a really powerful whorl-pool almost made Sarah drown," Karen said.

"Yeah…it's Water," Michael muttered.

He looked around the room at the girls who seemed to have been making fun of Sarah and teasing her. "Not the most popular, are you, Li?" he asked her.

"It's not my fault they think I'm stuck up, they just do," Sarah said quietly.

Silence came between the two of them. Michael was just staring down at Sarah, who was sitting on the bench, looking down at the floor. Karen finally broke the silence.

"I'll show you where the card first appeared, Michael," she said, grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the pool.

* * *

"If you even try to hurt her, I will make you pay. If you ever make her, I will make you pay. I don't care what you say, I will just make sure you never do it again!" Karen hissed at him as they stood near the pool side. 

"I'd like to see you try," Michael muttered.

Karen clenched her fists again. "Sarah was the first person I ever felt I could trust. She has cried into me, begging to be comforted. She has laughed at my jokes, actually making me realize I do in fact have a sense of humor. She has kept all my secrets, which nobody has ever done for me before. In return, I do the same for her and I protect her from people who don't think she's worth a damn," she growled at him.

Michael looked up at her from where he was kneeling near the pool side. "You're not blood related to her, are you?" he asked.

"I'm adopted," Karen answered.

"And your blood accepted magical training and power?" he asked her.

"I don't know why, but it did all the same. And I'm glad it did because that means I can help her even more now," Karen said, glaring at him. Why the hell was he asking her these questions?

Michael stood up and they glared at each other, burning holes into each others eyes. Sounds painful, does it not? You would have no idea then how much Karen actually really did want to burn those holes. If glares could kill, theirs would definitely kill without a second glance.

"How much does her friendship mean to you? Enough to want to protect her? Enough to want to take care of her?" Michael asked.

"Yes, but you have no friends, am I right?" Karen asked him.

"I _am_ my best friend. In this damn world, you can't trust anyone and I'm not going to start with you or that bitch in there. The only people I trust are my sister, Eriol and Fire-tail," he hissed at her.

Karen lost it and pushed him into the deep end of the pool.

"_Sarah is not a bitch and do not dare refer to her as one, you fucking bastard!_" she yelled.

At the sound of yelling and the splash from the pool, Sarah came out of the girls locker room and saw Michael floating there, glaring at Karen, her glaring back at him. He then turned his glare at Sarah and she backed up, scared of his anger. Karen got in front of her, taking the piercing glare for her and shooting one just as piercing right back.

Michael swam to the ladder and got out. He grabbed Sarah's wrist from behind Karen and pulled her forcefully over to him.

"You listen and you listen good. I'm with those girls in there a hundred percent. I think you are a spoiled brat who gets your fucking way with everything," he hissed at her as she tried to escape his grasp.

"You're hurting me!" Sarah gasped out in pain, refusing to look him in the eye.

Karen wanted to try and help Sarah, but she couldn't move. Michael was controlling her powers now and keeping her at bay.

"Good then. Maybe you'll remember that way to stay out of my way." Michael tightened his grip and she let out another gasp of pain. "I only came to this school because I sensed a card. I didn't come to try and make friends with you or the wolf over there."

Michael threw Sarah over to Karen and she caught her friend, making her sit down to try and calm the pain that was running through her wrist.

"Both of you stay out of my way." He snapped his fingers and disappeared. The water that had been frozen in time, started to move again. He had released his time spell.

"Come on Squeak. We'll have the teacher look at your wrist," Wolf said, helping her up from the wet floor.

* * *

"I'll kill him!" Kero shouted. 

"Yeah…give him a stuffed animal kick he'll never forget," Karen said, re-bandaging Sarah wrist after school.

Sarah had a red mark on her arm from where Michael had gripped her so hard.

"I couldn't even look him in the eye. I was so scared he'd slap me if I did…" Sarah whispered, and then grimaced in pain when Karen accidentally bumped it.

"Sorry. I'm trying to be careful, really," Karen apologized.

Sarah turned to Kero. "Why is the Water Card so much more powerful then the Fly card? Or is it just my imagination telling me that?" she asked him.

"It's an elemental card. There are four of those cards. Windy, power of Wind, Watery, power of water, Fiery, power of fire, and Earthy, power of earth. You know about how some are under the power of the sun and the moon, right?" he asked her.

Sarah and Karen nodded.

"Well…Fire and Earth are under me and the sun. Wind and Water are under Yue…you know about him, right?" Sarah nodded. "Windy and Water are under Yue and the moon. The elemental cards are the most powerful of all the cards. You will probably have a hard time capturing them," Kero said.

Karen finished bandaging up Sarah's wrist and hand, and then turned to Kero. "Baka…will Sarah be able to capture this one with only two cards?" she asked him.

"Maybe…I hope so. By the way…is the pool indoors or outdoors?" he asked.

"Indoors. If it were outside, Kero, we'd…freeze…" The sudden idea came through her head and she smiled at Kero. He smiled back, knowing what she was thinking. "I love you, Kero."

"Right back at you, Sarah," he said, smiling.

Karen looked at her, confused. "Huh?"

"You'll see, Karen. Tonight, meet me in front of the high school around eleven. You'll recognize me by the blood red battle outfit," Sarah said.

Karen smiled her toothy grin. "I'm bringing my camera."

Sarah groaned and shook her head.

* * *

Sarah opened the doors to the school, Karen right behind her and Kero sitting on Sarah's shoulder. Karen had her mother's video recorder in hand and already recording. 

"This is a pretty nice school," Kero said, looking around.

"We've got to go to the bottom level," Sarah said, walking down the stairs to the third level.

"Exactly how many levels does this high school have?" Kero asked them, flying by Sarah's side.

"Six. This school is huge and if you're not careful, you will get lost. Here's the ramp to the second floor," Karen said, pointing to it as they walked closer to it.

As they walked closer and closer to the end of the ramp, a figure came more and more into focus.

"Get out of here, Haku!" Karen yelled.

Michael looked at them, his eyes still as cold as ever.

"I thought I'd at least try and help you capture the card," he said, crossing his arms.

Michael was wearing a Chinese battle outfit. It was dark red with the Chinese symbol for 'power' on the front of the shirt part and on the back was the Chinese symbol for 'fight.' Think Syaoran's battle outfit. It was almost exactly the same, except for the fact that it was dark red, black and the sword had black tassels on the end of it. In the holder of the sword, there were emeralds on both sides of it.

"How'd you know we were coming tonight?" Kero asked him.

Michael tossed a crystal to Sarah and she caught it with ease. It was in the shape of a half moon.

"No…no…that was a myth! A-a legend! The…The Seers Eye isn't real!" Sarah said, shaking slightly.

"Isn't real?" Michael threw his hand back to himself and the crystal flew into his open hand. "You were holding it, weren't you? I has to be real then. Whenever I wish to see you, this is what I can use."

Karen turned to Sarah and watched her start to panic.

"Sarah…don't panic. Tell me, what is The Seers Eye exactly?" she asked her.

Sarah started to panic even more as Karen spoke the words.

"Squeak, tell me…what is so wrong about The Seers Eye?" she asked.

Sarah lost it and ran. Michael, however, grabbed her wrist and pulled her over to him. She let out a scream of pain and collapsed to her knees. Michael froze and let Sarah go.

"What did I do? What's wrong?" he asked her, getting down close to her.

"Just get away from me, please!" Sarah yelled and ran towards the stairs to the first floor.

* * *

She stood in front of the pool. Sarah unlocked and opened the door to the grounds outside. She held her staff in front of her to protect her and hit the water. 

"Catch me if you can," she hissed to it in Japanese.

The Watery appeared in front of her, her tail and claws ready to hit her. She went after Sarah and she ran outside into the snow. Water fallowed her. Sarah pulled out a card.

"Fly!"

Wing appeared on either side of the circle and she got onto it.

"Come get me!" she called to Watery and flew into the snowing sky. The Watery went after her, her claws ready to strike, but Sarah turned and the Water ran into the side of the building. Sarah landed on the roof of the school and out Windy.

Michael, Karen and Kero came out of the school and watched.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Li?" Michael yelled up to Sarah.

"Capturing the card!" she answered.

A pain ran through Sarah's wrist, the one Michael had twisted earlier that day, but she ignored it. It'd only give him the satisfaction of him seeing her in pain.

"Windy! Come to my aid and create your might winds!" Sarah yelled in Japanese into the night air.

Windy appeared and the snow whirled around Watery, causing her to stop from almost attacking Sarah. Michael stared. She had done it…she had stopped an elemental card dead in its tracks with only two cards.

"Watery Card, return to the form you were destined to be in, Sakura Card!"

Watery went into her card and floated over to Sarah. She felt weak again. She released fly again, went down to Karen and Kero and fell right into Karen.

"It's either the cold weather that's causing my legs to go numb…or my power is trying to kill me again," Sarah whimpered into Karen.

Karen helped her sit down on the snow and put her camera away. Sarah pulled out her pen and wrote her name on the card. Karen pulled out the Sakura book from her bag and placed the card inside it. Slowly, Sarah fell into her and went limp.

"Sorry," she muttered as she nuzzled her forehead against Karen's neck, making her blush. Her eyes were buried in her neck as she rested.

"When did she capture fly?" Michael asked as Karen picked her up again.

"Two days ago, Saturday. A lot of good you did to help her capture the card!" she hissed at him. Michael was taken aback Karen's sudden anger. "First, you torment her, telling her something she doesn't want to hear by saying "You're under contract the moment you open the book" or something like that, then you tell her she's weak, and then you tell her she's useless. You twisted her wrist and hurt her more than I would ever let you and I warned you. When she's with me, she's the only thing I care about at the moment. I don't care what people say, I'll still care for her no matter what. If you ever tried to hurt, I'd kill you. You've been warned and now, you pay."

Karen put Sarah down and attacked him in her wolf form. Michael transformed into his white dragon form and attacked her. Kero just sat near Sarah, keeping her pulse and making sure she was breathing. Half of him wanted to yell, "Yeah, that's it, Haku! Scratch her eyes out! Rip out her throat! Win, win, win!"

The snow was soon blood stained red. Wolf's white coat was soon splattered and stained a red and Haku's glistening white scales were all scratched up and bleeding slightly. Wolf pinned him down to the snow and ripped at his face. Haku opened his jaw and bit down. A howl of pain escaped Wolf. Haku wrapped himself around Wolf, trying to squeeze her, but she bit down on him and he quickly let her go, roaring in anger. He aimed to bit down on her throat from the front, but she clawed his face, hard. He threw her against the wall of the school building and she slid down it, back in her human form. Michael transformed back into his human form.

Both were blood covered and in scratches, bruises and more pain than they had ever been in before.

"_Stay away from Sarah. If you don't, I will kill you next time for hurting her_," Karen hissed, wiping blood away from her mouth.

She walked over to Sarah and felt her forehead. She froze, both because she was cold and because something was really wrong.

"God, her forehead is so hot!" she whispered.

Karen shook her, but Sarah just lay limply in her arm's.

"Sarah…please wake up," Karen whispered.

She didn't.

Michael, though he was beyond angry inside, snapped his fingers and they all appeared in the living room of Sarah's house. Sakura and Tomoyo gasped at the sight of their daughters and ran to them. Eriol stood in front of Michael.

"What happened?" he asked him.

"Why don't you look for yourself? I'm sure you can do that," Michael hissed.

"Come on, Karen. We're going home and cleaning you up," Tomoyo said, taking Karen's hand in hers.

"No! I'm not leaving her alone! Not with this…this bastard being able to see her every moment! I refuse to leave her alone and I will not!" Karen yelled.

"I'm only watching her to find the cards! Nothing else!" Michael yelled at her.

David started to cry upstairs. "Quiet! Karen, go up and take a shower. And you two go home. Tomoyo, you'll stay the night. I know you won't want to leave Karen while she's in this condition," Sakura said.

"I'll take her upstairs, Sakura. You're coming with me, young lady. I'm not leaving you around him," Eriol said as he picked Sarah up in his arms.

* * *

"What is The Seers Eye, Eriol?" Karen asked as she covered Sarah up. 

"The Seers Eye? Oh god, I haven't heard about that in a long time. The Seers Eye is a crystal in the shape of a magical person's soul. Take mine for instance. It's a mix of the sun and the moon. Yours would probably be the sun, so is Michael's. Sarah's is both, but her power mainly lies in the moon because her father is mainly the moon and her mother is part of the moon, so her crystal would be a moon shape.

"The Seers Eye can only be created by an extremely powerful magician. They can create it for only two reasons: one, the person whom it was created from must have major magical abilities and needed to be watched over probably because they do not know how to properly use them and needed to make sure nothing happens and two, the person who created it must need it for some purpose that has to do with the person whom it created from. If The Seers Eye is used improperly, it can lead to disaster, so it has to be handle with great care," Eriol told her. "Why?"

"No reason. Sarah just mentioned it and never explained it to me," Karen said.

* * *

While Karen was taking her shower in Sarah's bathroom, Kero flew over to Sarah's side. 

Please wake up, Sarah, he thought.

I can't even open my eyes, Kero. It'll hurt if I do, she thought back.

Just breathe, Sarah. That's all I'm asking you to do now. Breathe, please. Karen, though I hate to admit it, is trying her best to protect you.

Please don't tell me what she did. Please…don't. I don't think I would ever be able to wake up if you did. Can I just sleep like this…just for the rest of the night? I really don't feel well…

Kero flew next to her and gently moved her hair away from her face.

"I'll let you rest. You need it the most kiddo," he whispered.

* * *

Karen got dressed in the nightclothes Tomoyo had brought over for her and dried her hair. She walked into Sarah's room and sighed, shaking her head at the sight of her friend unconscious/sleeping in her bed. She walked over to Sarah. 

"I'm never letting him come near you, Sarah. I promise, I'm never going to let him hurt you again," she whispered.

"You know…I'm still sticking with the idea that you're a lesbian," Kero said.

Karen picked him up by his tail and hissed, "Kero, one of these mornings you will wake up hanging by a flag post by your tail, feathers trimmed, shaved naked and skin dyed neon green." Her face was deadly serious with a cruel, smirk written across it. She threw him across the room. "I care a lot about Sarah. Yeah…say what you want, but she's basically my sister. The only sister I will ever want in this lifetime and I want to keep her safe. She is my little sister and yeah, I do love her, but not in the way you think. My little sister to protect and I will do anything to keep school-yard bullies away from her."

"You are a total mystery to me," Kero said.

Karen watched him fly over to Sarah.

"The sun has many mysteries. I'm just raveled up in them."

Karen sat down by the bed near Sarah and took her hand, holding it.

I guess that means Michael is as fucked up in Kero's view as I am to him.


	4. The Nightmare of Loneliness

Man, it has been a long time since I wrote…sorry about that! Thank you to all who commented, good or bad. And no, I will NOT change this. If you want to write a fan fiction with the main characters being Sakura and Syaoran, be my guest. (Read the comments to understand what I'm talking about) This is my story. This chapter is shorter than other ones I wrote...I hope it's still good. Now with THAT out of the way, I hope you enjoy!

**Chapter Four**

**The Nightmare of Loneliness**

"Her breathing is really heavy, Syaoran!"

"She'll be fine, don't worry."

"But-"

"Give her sometime, Sakura. Her energy will return eventually," Syaoran reassured his wife.

He ushered Sakura out of the Sarah's room to give their daughter, Kero and her friend some quiet so they all could rest. He closed the door behind him and turned to face Tomoyo who was waiting nervously outside the room.

"I'm worried, though! She's my daughter and I don't want capturing the cards to kill her!" Sakura said.

"It won't kill her. You, Eriol, Tomoyo and I all know that. Even Karen can sense that and she won't let that happen," Syaoran said.

"What of that Haku boy? From what Karen has told me, he's not terribly fond of her," Tomoyo said as they walked down the stairs.

"We shall see about him," Syaoran said, smiling oddly to himself and Sakura knew why.

* * *

Wolf gently nudged Sarah with her snout, whining for her to wake up. Sarah, however, did not. Wolf gently nudged her again, this time under the chin. Nothing, not even a sleepy groan.

Wolf looked at Kero and whined to him, why the hell isn't she waking up? She's really worrying me!

"I really don't know. Magic doesn't usually dwindle like this," Kero said, looking down at Sarah sadly.

All of this is giving me a head ache. I need a chew toy.

And, with that, Kero found himself dangling from Wolf's teeth, his tail stuck between them.

"Damn you! Let me go!" he yelled.

As you wish, Wolf responded and threw Kero out from the canopy bed and into the wall. Wolf curled up at the foot of Sarah's bed and watched her to see if she could spot any signs of her waking up soon.

Kero, breathing heavily, flew through the closed curtains and laid down near Sarah's bed.

"Wake up soon, kiddo. I told you that you could rest for as long as you needed…but not like this. You're scaring even me," he whispered.

* * *

Sarah did not wake. All night, Wolf would wake up and gently nudge her, but nothing happened. No groan of "Wolf, you idiot! Let me sleep!" Sarah just laid completely still, breathing, but not waking.

The next morning, Karen woke up in her human form, still at the foot of the bed. She sat up and stretched. The sound of small sighs reached her ears to see David asleep next to Sarah…who had her eyes open. She put a single finger to her lips.

"You have no idea how much he struggled to get into this bed," she whispered, a small smile on her lips.

"You didn't help him?" Karen whispered, surprised at her friends unwillingness to help even her little brother.

"I can't. I feel so weak." Sarah looked down at her little brother and giggled slightly. "It's so cute when he sleeps. He coos!"

Karen laughed slightly. "I'll go get your parents. Tell them you're awake. I'll take David back to his bed," she said and was about to take him, when Sarah stopped her.

"Leave him. He'll just get out of his crib again to get back to me," Sarah said.

Karen nodded and left. Sarah turned her head to her right. Kero was sleeping soundly near her head and she heard him mutter, "Don't take my saki!" David snuggled closer to his big sister and she just smiled down at him.

"You're just too cute, David," she whispered as he turned onto his back and let out a little coo.

The door creaked open and Sakura walked in with Karen right behind her. She moved aside the dark violet curtains to the canopy bed and sat down next to her daughter. She felt her forehead.

"I'll call you in sick today. One, you do feel rather warm and two…honey, your tired and weak. I can just tell because you're shaking a bit and your skin is pale. Don't you think it's a good idea to take a break from school?" she said quietly.

David woke up and, at the sight of his mother, crawled over to her and sat in her lap. Sakura wrapped her arms around her little boy.

"Will I be here alone?" Sarah asked her.

"No, David and I will be here. Around noon, your father will return from work and stay for the rest of the day with you and David. I'm going to work around one. He'll be here around 12 or 12:30."

Sarah nodded, weakly. "And what about Karen?"

"I'm making Tomoyo take her home so she can take some time to heal up those scratches," said Sakura.

"Scratches?" Sarah sat up at this. "What scratches? What happened, Karen?"

Sakura realized only too late that she had said something she wasn't supposed to. She quickly covered it up with, "When you were capturing Watery, the snow hit her, leaving some scratches. Nothing to worry about, dear."

Karen walked over to Sarah. "If you ever need anything, you know you can just call me," she said.

Sarah nodded and looked over her friends' arms and hands. They really were scratched up, badly. As if she had been in a fight. A fight with something _much_ larger than her.

* * *

Karen and Sarah emailed each other back and forth all day until 11, when Sarah had to sign off and rest. She had been in her battle outfit all night, so she changed into her nightclothes and went back to bed.

Kero floated over to her and felt her forehead. He shook his head. "Poor kid… out in the snow in that costume was not the best thing for your health," he said.

"I wore a jacket with it!" Sarah told him.

"That didn't seem to help you much," Kero said, sitting himself down on her pillow.

Sarah climbed into the bed and covered up.

"That Wolf seems pretty attached to you," commented Kero.

"She's always been there for me. I can't imagine anyone else doing that for me," Sarah said.

Kero flew over to the light switch and turned off the light. He then flew back over to Sarah and closed the curtains around her bed. He looked back at her and found her asleep already. He sighed to himself as he lay down next to her head.

I don't think she's anything like you, Sakura. She's so weak! Kero thought to his old mistress.

Give her time, Kero. She's still getting used to the whole idea of the cards and her gaining all this power. Her body is just surprised by all the power she's gaining, Sakura thought back.

Why weren't _you_ like this, though? Why didn't _you_ suddenly black out or become unconscious when _you_ were capturing the cards? demanded Kero

Sakura was silent for a moment or two. Kero didn't seem to put much faith in Sarah at all. In fact…he didn't seem to like her all that much. This upset Sakura very much, but as she responded, it did not affect her voice. She knew how to control her sadness and anger.

Her magic is used in a different form, Kero. She's used to that. Also, a majority of the time, she was using power from the sun and, suddenly, when she started using power from the moon, she started having a hard time with the sudden boost she was feeling, she defended for her daughter.

Kero knew he had probably gone too far in what he had said before. It was never a wise decision to question Sakura when it came to magic. She knew what she was talking about. It was also never a wise decision to go against any mothers' daughter right in front of them.

* * *

Everywhere…blood. Dripping down from her forehead was blood. Down her back…blood. Sarah fell to the ground on all fours and coughed some up. A sharp pain ran through her back and she looked down at her stomach.

The point of a dagger was pointing right out of it. She reached around her to her back and pulled it out. She felt weak. Her naked body fell to the ground and she bled all over the place. Two strong arm's gently picked her up and cradled her gently in them. She looked up. Jason was gently rocking her back and forth…his chest punctured and blood pouring out onto her body from his.

* * *

"Sarah! Sarah, wake up!" Kero's voice came like an echo through the mist.

Sarah's eyes shot open and she sat up, looking around. She was in her bed, the curtains closed around her.

"Where's Jason? Where is he?" Sarah asked Kero.

"Jason?" Kero asked her, confused.

"Where is he?" Suddenly, Sarah came to her senses. She buried her eyes in her knees and started to cry. Those dreams…they were happening again. Why? Why now? She was finally getting over him…even two years later it still hurt.

"What was Jason's last name?" came a voice.

Sarah looked up and found Michael sitting next to her. He had froze time. At the sight of her tears, his fingers gently wiped them away. At the feeling of his fingers, she let out a small whimper of fear.

Those eyes glistened when they were full of tears. God they were beautiful.

His fingers had a rough feel to them…but they were gentle and serene towards her.

"Please unfreeze time, Haku," she whispered, the tears still coming, him still trying to wipe them away.

"Does it scare you when I do this?" he asked her gently. She noted the sound of pity coming from his voice.

Sarah didn't answer, but he got his answer when she looked at Kero sadly. He snapped his fingers and everything unfroze from time. Kero saw Michael and charged at him, but Michael grabbed his tail and dangled him around like Wolf had in her mouth.

"I'm not here to hurt Li, so don't worry," he said and gave him to Sarah, who held onto him tightly. "What was Jason's last name?"

"Why do you want to know?" Sarah asked him, still holding Kero close to her.

She was shaking as she spoke. This Jason…was someone very close to her. Someone she had lost possibly.

Michael was silent and saw Sarah's eyes again. God…it turned out he had a very bad weakness here.

"Mist…Jason's last name was Mist," she told him after a minute of silence.

Michael was still silent as he watched Kero struggle to escape Sarah's hand. He continued to wipe the tears away as she cried.

"What did he look like?" he asked her.

"Red hair, gray eyes but he wore colored contacts that made his eyes blue…I can't remember what else…" the tears started to come even more at this. "It's been so long since I saw him!"

By complete surprise, Sarah let Kero go and she fell into Michael, overcome by her tears. Michael started to push her away, his feelings mixed with pure disgust and shock, but something stopped him and he held her doing the best he could to comfort her.

Kero just floated above them. Something was off. Why did he even come when there wasn't a card? Why was he interested in finding out who this Jason person was?

"What are you planning, Haku?" asked Kero.

"Nothing," he answered calmly.

"People don't come over just to find out about a person!" Kero argued.

"I have my reasons," was all Michael had to say.

"Get-the-fuck-away-from-Sarah," came a low growl.

Kero turned to see Karen standing in the middle of Sarah's room. Karen ran over to him and pushed him away from Sarah and took the sobbing blond in her arms, comforting her.

She thinks Michael hurt her again I bet, Kero said.

Karen gently stroked the back of Sarah's head, knowing exactly how to calm her.

"Shh…I'm not going to let him hurt you, Sarah. I promise," she whispered.

Sarah looked up at Karen. "Haku wasn't hurting me, though," she whispered back.

Karen didn't seem to have heard her and looked at her wrist. She turned back to Michael. "What did you do to her?" she demanded.

"I didn't do a thing to her. You're just jumping to conclusions…which I figure you do a lot," Michael said calmly.

Sarah felt Karen's grip become a lot tighter on her and looked up to see her ready to transform into her wolf form and attack him, but Sarah stopped her. She knew exactly how to.

"You never answered my question, Haku! Did you know Jason?" Sarah asked him, trying to buy time before Karen attacked him.

He went silent.

Oh god, don't do that! It'll only make Karen angrier! "Please! I need to know!" she cried.

"Why?" Michael asked her coldly, the question biting horribly at Sarah.

"I'm trying to find someone…anyone who knew him while he was still alive!" she said.

"You're out of luck there," Michael said, all of his cold side coming back again and he turned to disappear.

"I know why the Haku clan split from the Li clan!" Sarah suddenly burst out.

Michael turned to her, his eyes flashing, "Do you?"

"The Haku clan started to hate the Li clan. They had a cold disposition and someone from your clan killed someone from mine over the dispute of who had more power! You hate me because of that hate that's been passed down from generation to generation!" Sarah explained, her eyes still brimming with tears.

"That and other things," he told her simply.

Karen let go of Sarah and was getting ready to charge at Michael.

"And what would be those 'other things,' Haku? Hmm? Mind explaining that to us?" Karen yelled at him.

Michael was silently. He was not making wise moves with not answering Karen's questions, but he seemed to know what he was doing. At that, however, a cold empty feeling swept through all of them. The house, which had been full of the sounds of David's little shrieks of delight and Sakura's laughs, was now empty.

"David," Sarah whispered and ran out of the room.

"What?" Kero looked at Michael and Karen and both shrugged. All three went after her and found her standing in David's room. There was no David and no Sakura. Sarah ran downstairs, them all fallowing her, and found the living room, kitchen and dining room all empty.

"The entire house seems to be empty…" Kero said, looking around.

"Mom said she'd be here until noon and David would still be here!" Sarah looked at the clock. "It's not even eleven yet!" She turned around to speak to Karen, but saw she was gone. She looked at Michael, but all she saw was an outline of him and that cold empty feeling again. He then disappeared.

"Release the key, Sarah, this is a card," Kero told her.

Sarah pulled it out from underneath her nightdress and spoke the Japanese words, "By the power of the stars! Staff of power, made by Clow, reveal to me your true form now! Release the staff!"

"Try and sense it, Sarah. You have to try!" said Kero.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on her power. Please…don't do this to me again…She opened her eyes again and walked back up the stairs and into David's room. A woman in a jesters costume sat in the rocking chair near his crib. She smiled and waved her hand in Kero's direction. He started to disappear.

"Kero! No…please don't leave me!" Sarah cried.

"Don't worry about me! Just capture it!" he yelled before he disappeared.

The card stood up and walked right up to Sarah, smiling. She placed her hand out for Sarah to take. She started to back away from the woman.

"Please…give me back my family," she whispered, starting to cry again.

The woman, still smiling, giggled and shook her head. Sarah touched her with her staff.

"Return to the form you were destined to be in, Sakura Card!" she whispered, the Japanese words echoing through the empty house.

The card, The Erase, floated over to Sarah and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Kero reappeared and David, asleep in his crib, and Sakura, asleep in the rocking care, reappeared as well. Michael and Karen reappeared downstairs. They looked around for Sarah, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. Kero flew downstairs to them.

"She's unconscious in David's room, guys. We need to get her back to bed," he told them.

Michael, Karen at his heels, ran up the stairs to where she lay and he picked her up. Karen carefully picked the staff and the card up. Sarah wrapped her arm's around his neck and buried her eyes in his neck. A small sigh escaped her lips.

"Jason…" was what she sighed. Kero stared at her. Again, she was thinking of Jason. Why would she say it around Michael, though?

Michael walked over to her room and Karen closed the door behind her when Kero came inside. He gently laid her down and made the staff back into the key and placed the card in the book. He sat down next to her, keeping his eyes on her the entire time.

"You knew Jason Mist?" Karen asked him, hearing the name Sarah had uttered.

"Key word is 'knew' in that sentence," Michael said quietly so Sarah could rest without being bothered.

"Who was he?" Kero asked.

Michael stared down at Sarah. She was breathing heavily. He took her wrist, the one he had twisted, in his hand and undid the bandages. He touched her wrist gently with two fingers and it healed up.

Sarah skin was so soft beneath his rough fingertips. It almost felt like he was touching something that could crumble and brake in his hands if he held it for too long.

"Haku?" came Karen's voice, snapping him away from his memories and thoughts of Jason. He had been searching for so long for that girl…that girl Jason had spoke of all the time before he died.

"Jason was my twin brother," Michael whispered.


End file.
